


Irrelevant

by koolio19



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Episode Addition, Episode: s07e01 Unimatrix Zero Part II, F/M, jc - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-01 09:34:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18797698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koolio19/pseuds/koolio19
Summary: This is an episode addition for Unimatrix Zero. The missing end scene of Chakotay coming to check on Kathryn in Sickbay. JC





	Irrelevant

The sickbay doors swished closed as Seven walked out leaving Kathryn alone with her coffee and reports, neither of which the Doctor was happy about. But after many threats of going up to the bridge to get them herself, he had allowed them as distractions to keep her still and resting as long as possible. 

She glanced to her right and watched as B’Elanna slept peacefully, although it was sedative-induced at least she wasn't in pain. Kathryn then looked to Tuvok, who the Doctor was currently leaned over intently repairing the damage to his neural pathways. The EMH had assured her that Tuvok would be fine, only that he would need a few additional procedures to recover fully. That didn't, however, stem the guilt she felt at the sight of her old friend. She inhaled deeply in an attempt to sigh, but the pain in her spine spiked sharply at the movement and she ended up gasping quietly instead. 

"Are you sure you don't want a sedative, Captain?" the Doctor asked, looking up at her as he heard her small voice of pain. 

_Of course, he had heard that _, she sighed, though mentally this time. "I'm alright, Doctor," she said hoping he'd drop the subject.__

__"Captain," he warned, "I allowed you those reports so you would stay here and rest, but if they’re going to keep you awake all night, I'm going to take them away. You need to sleep."_ _

__"I just have one left then I'm yours to sedate," she replied in a commanding tone that didn't leave much room for him to argue._ _

__"Fine," he sighed in concession not wanting to waste any more time. The sooner she finished reading that report meant the sooner she would be under sedation and finally resting to his satisfaction, "but only one."_ _

__"Aye, sir," she said with a smirk, then turned back to her report._ _

__Later, just as the Doctor had noticed that she had set the report on the bedside table, Commander Chakotay walked through the sickbay doors and towards the Captain's bed. "No, Commander, if you have another report for her, you have to leave," he said sternly, his patience wearing thin._ _

__Chakotay's hands shot up into the air in as a sign of surrender, "Don't shoot," he said, "I'm report free. See," he wiggled his fingers, "I'm just here to see how she is."_ _

__"Fine," the EMH grumbled, "five minutes." He had finished with Tuvok, so he retired to his office to give them some privacy. He knew that a big reason that the Captain hated sickbay stays was that she knew she was always being watched._ _

__"So, how's my ship doing in your capable hands, Commander?" she asked playfully._ _

__"Repairs are going well and should be completed by tomorrow," he replied with a smile. He was glad she was feeling more like her old self. He had been so afraid when they left her, B’Elanna, and Tuvok on that Cube. Then, once they were beamed back aboard, he had rushed to sickbay to see them. He almost hadn't recognized them with their Borg implants, green tinted skin, and no hair. But what had scared him the most was the fear that they were still connected to the hive mind and that the Queen would be able to kill all of them without anyone even realizing. Those thoughts had haunted him the last two nights making sleep impossible, but seeing Kathryn today, awake and without any mechanical implants on her exposed body was a beautiful thing. Her face was still a bit pale, but at least she wasn't sickly green anymore. And the doctor had super-stimulated the growth of her hair follicles, so she looked like his Captain, his Kathryn, once again._ _

__"Very good," she nodded and glanced up at his face. She seemed as if she wanted to say something but after a few moments still hadn't opened her mouth._ _

__He looked at her questioningly, then smirked a bit, "It's not often that the great Captain Janeway is left struggling with words," he said as he leaned against the bulkhead beside her biobed._ _

__"It isn't the words I'm having trouble with, it's the courage to say them," she said softly as she looked at her hands which gripped the metal coffee cup on her lap._ _

__Chakotay's forehead wrinkled in confusion, "Not having courage is even more unlikely than not having words," he said, the joking tone replaced with concern as he laid a warm hand on her wrist lightly, still unsure of where she was in pain and where she wasn't. "Is everything alright?"_ _

__"Chakotay," she said as she carefully turned away from him and set the cup down next to the reports on the bedside table. She turned back to look tentatively at him, "I spoke with Seven earlier. She’s having regrets about the way she treated her relationship with her friend Axum from Unimatrix Zero. She said that she believed her feelings for him to be irrelevant. It took her until it was too late to realize they weren’t, and now she'll probably never see him again."_ _

__He watched her closely as she struggled to say what was on her mind, "I – I’ve been thinking, and I - I've realized that I can't force my feelings for you to be irrelevant anymore." She looked back down to her lap unsure of how to continue, her mouth opening only to close again without a sound coming from it._ _

__He gently lifted the hand that still rested on her wrist up to her chin and made her blue eyes meet his brown ones. "What are you trying to say, Kathryn?" he asked softly, hope starting to line his chest._ _

__The use of her name seemed to give her the small push of courage to continue, though not in the strong captain's voice she normally used, but in a soft, vulnerable tone, "I wanted to tell you- I mean I'd understand if you feel differently now—"_ _

__"Kathryn, just say it," he smirked at her very uncaptain-like rambling._ _

__"I don't want to pretend that you're nothing more than my First Officer, anymore. You mean too much to me for that," she said slowly, her eyes gleaming with a vulnerability he had never seen in her before, not even on New Earth. “I love you, Chakotay,” She finished softly._ _

__His smile engulfed his face as he looked down at her, "I don't think my feelings for you will ever change. You have my heart forever." She smiled breathtakingly at him, her hesitation turned to joy, as he delicately took her face in his hands and kissed her gently on the forehead, still unsure of where he could touch her. “I love you too, Kathryn,” he said as he pulled back to look at her._ _

__"I'm sorry I took so long to finally say it, but I was so set on the prime directive and getting Voyager home and—"_ _

__"Shhh," he whispered, "It's alright; everything's going to be alright." She smiled up at him appreciatively as she leaned forward to kiss him properly, but, as she tried to pull herself up off the pillows that were supporting her back, she let out a small cry of pain and quickly fell back against them._ _

__"Are you alright?" Chakotay asked worriedly._ _

__"No, she's not, Commander," the Doctor said in an irritated voice, as he emerged from his office and walked over to Commander Tuvok. "I just removed her spinal clamps and she needs rest, so you need to leave now."_ _

__"Doctor—" the Captain began, the pain in her back subsiding back into the dull throbbing it had been before._ _

__"No, Kathryn, he's right," Chakotay cut in. "I'll see you in the morning." Satisfied, the Doctor turned his back to them to look over the medical readouts on the console contained in the surgical biobed. This gave Chakotay the chance to lean in and give Kathryn the kiss she had tried to give him before her body reminded her about her earlier surgery._ _

__She smiled against his lips, content even at the thought of the Doctor turning around and seeing them. He would find out soon enough anyway, and maybe it would save them having to tell the crew themselves. The Doctor had become a terrible gossip since Tom had started working shifts in sickbay, at least in subjects not protected under Doctor-Patient Confidentiality._ _

__"Get some rest alright, Captain,” Chakotay said in a playfully strict tone as he stroked her cheek with his thumb and retracted his hand. He then turned and walked out of Sickbay with a grin on his face._ _

__After a moment of staring at the doors, her eyes turned to the Doctor's back, "Alright as I promised, I'm now yours to sedate." She shook her head as the Doctor looked up with a satisfied smirk on his face._ _

__"Glad to see you're coming to your senses, Captain. You need a good, long rest," his voice mimicking the smirk on his face as he walked purposefully over, hypospray in hand. He carefully took the big pillows out from behind her and helped her lay comfortably down on the biobed before injecting her. Her eyes slid closed easily, and her last conscious thoughts were of the first kiss that she and Chakotay had just shared, and what their new-found relationship would become._ _

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally posted on fanfiction.net in 2011. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!


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